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Is the performance limitation you mention about the number of wireless connections, or the processing power?

I tried several such devices with the intention of prototyping my own software, but either their CPUs were underpowered or they were unreliable. I got Debian on a GK802 for instance, installed in the internal SD-card so leaving the external slot free, with a USB WiFi dongle in addition to the internal WiFi so that it could work as a gateway to certain web content while serving its own applications. The problem I had was that it did not boot reliably, maybe because the file system got corrupted occasionally when powering off: it does not have a power button.
Another limitation is the number of simultaneous connections, which was not important for me in the prototype phase.

At the time there was a device developed for that usage, serving a whole classroom, called the SMILEplug:
http://www.cnx-software.com/20...
https://www.globalscaletechnol...

It used a separate WiFi chip from Marvell that supported up to 60 simultaneous connections, with applications running on NodeJS on what seems to be a standard Debian system.
I haven't heard about them in a while and suspect they just abandoned the project: http://www.smileconsortium.org...

Is there some way I could follow your project?
I'm very interested in the subject, specially in the difficulties and needs found in actual use.
You can find my e-mail address at my website: http://sentido-labs.com/en/abo...

Any of the plug computers. http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/

If the current mics are giving you decent audio, it would be way simpler just to either connect them to the sound in on an existing computer, or if there isn't already going to be something always on, you could set up a plug computer which could easily upload the recordings, or perhaps even host them its self. Something like the SheevaPlug should be more than enough.

15 watts max power dissipation, runs 1.2GHz ARM processor w/Debian or Ubuntu. Has dual 1GbE ports, eSATA, SDHC, (Internal 4GB microSD w/OS/kernel), 2 USB host, 512MB of RAM. Oh and it has built-in audio in/out, optical (SPDIF) audio out, Bluetooth 3.0, and Wifi B/G/N that automatically configures itself as a bridging access point. $159 here: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-54-dreamplug-devkit.aspx

I have nothing to do with the company, just a happy customer. Using the latest Debian repos make updates a breeze and with that amount of RAM it has no problems running anything you'd every need for routing/file services/print/etc. I use one at work and have been meaning to get another for home use as my DD-WRT is getting a little long in the tooth.

Sheeva plug, guru plug, etc.

While it's a bit more targeted at the "server" market rather than "router" market, the DreamPlug does all that you want. It has dual gigabit ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n, a 1.2GHz ARM processor (with a decent crypto co-processor that can handle full duplex gigabit VPN encryption), USB2 and eSATA ports for adding discs, an external SD card port and 4GB of flash inside for the FS. It even has both analogue and SP/DIF audio out in case you want to stream music into your server cupboard. It's very low power too (typically about 10 watts).

You can always try the Guru plug Display. At $199, it's not a bad price.

TBH I couldn't tell you whether it'll continue to be supported for all that long. There have been a couple of firmware updates I've applied in the (almost) year I've had it.

In terms of lifespan, you may well be right, it may well be that the dedicated media machines get longer support. Especially in the case of something that is open enough to hack and get a community going. Myself I'm tempted to get something like the the D2Plug so I can just load debian or some other linux on to it and then use whatever software I like.

Remarkable timing for this story, as my Sheevaplug suddenly died last week after just over 330 days of flawless uptime. Turns out, there is a known issue with the original power supplies that were shipped, and they die pretty frequently after 8-10 months of use. This is so common that Globalscale now sells the PSUs separately for ~$10 USD (plus another $15 for shipping, of course).

The US version is supposed to ship this month. The developer kit is $149, and $179 with a JTAG interface (recommended for development.)

The production version will probably be cheaper.

Hopefully they've fixed the overheating problem they had with their previous GuruPlug.

Marvell OpenRD-client:

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-openrdcdetails.aspx

Has an ARM9 at 1.2GHz, half a gig of RAM, sound, VGA video, lots of USB, SD card reader, 2 GbE ports, eSATA and a spot for a 2.5" hard drive in it. Mine draws 10W from the wall. And it happily runs Debian.

My only beef is the video (XGI Z11) has absolutely horrible driver support, so don't expect the thing to play Blu-ray.

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-32-guruplug-server-plus.aspx

$129 gets you a Guruplug Server Plus. It doesn't have a dual core CPU, but a 1.2GHz ARM9 gives plenty of grunt. Has half a gig of DDR2, half a gig of NAND, 2 gigabit ethernet jacks, USB, eSATA and a SD slot. And it happily runs Debian.

"Plug computing" ((c) Marvell) is the successor of that direction. There's stuff like this hitting the market, though still single-core for now.

Once these new Cortex A9s are more in the wild, I'd expect them to find a home in the wall wart machines as well.

• 3 My Open-Mesh boxes cost..... $45 each
• 3 Plug computers were.............. $100 each
• 3 Mini USB 500G drives were.... $110 each
• Total ~$750.00

I made one of the plugs my apache server, another the Samba storage and the 3rd for various uses including Ubuntu Desktop I could log into and manage everything from a GUI. I have all my music/video's in my house coming through these now.
It all fit in a large shoe-box. Total cost was Less than $750. Total power consumption: Less than 35 watts.
The Open-Mesh is managed via a browser and uses Google Map to show/diagram/locate your Open-Mesh network (if it was ever dispersed over a larger area ... like a shopping center etc) and it will send you sms and/or email if there is ever a network problem such as congestion, an open-mesh goes offline or down etc
It actually works pretty well. But it showed me how much possibility these little devices have.

GlobalScale Technologies manufactures the SheevaPlug and GuruPlug development kits. Unfortunately, they totally botched the thermal design of the product, leading it to overheat and spontaneously reboot, making it useless for a server or access point.

They finally admitted that they messed up and promised to offer a fix for free. One month later, that promise disappeared from their news page.

Attention GlobalScale Technologies: You can't just pretend that you didn't post that. Either offer the kit for free, post a plausible update to the situation, or be prepared for chargebacks for selling a device that clearly can't meet its specs.

The Guruplug Display has an HDMI port. I've heard from forums that the Guruplugs have cooling problems so I've never bought one.

Kinda interesting no one mentioned Guruplug yet. http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-guruplugdetails.aspx

That would be a really neat idea. Just put 2 WiFi cards in it. One set up to be an Access point, the other to connect to a wireless network.

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-32-guruplug-server-plus.aspx This looks like it could fit the bill. Would just have to hack it up a bit to take the cars 12v instead of a home 120vAC. Or I guess a DC->AC Converter. Slap a pair of WiFi USB connectors, and a eSATA drive. Good to Go.

The basic one is still made:
http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/products.php?cat=5 Cheap, USB+Ethernet

Updated version are coming RealSoonNow, including one with HDMI
http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/products.php?cat=11 there's a version with eSATA
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-33-guruplug-display.aspx

And Marvell announced a v.3 at CES last Jan, no real product announced yet.

All of those support Debian, Ubuntu is on the way out since the new Ubuntu requires some instruction set extension that are not available on the old plugs.

There's a very active community at http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php

Get yourself an OpenRD client. Just add an eSata disk, USB mouse, keyboard, VGA display and off you go. USD 249 at the moment.

Pity it's VGA rather than DVI/HDMI.

Also, $99 for this Moby Tablet? Yeah, right. Maybe the bill of materials is $99, but I doubt even that. This thing stinks badly of being vaporware.

You clearly have no idea how much profit is made on this stuff.

In China, some companies sell full ATX motherboards retail for 199-299 yuan. That's about $35 USD. That includes assembly and parts costs, plus profit for the manufacturer and store/outlet.

The most expensive parts of this tablet would be the screen and shipping costs.

It's doable. Their profit won't be huge, but if they wanted to flood the market, they could. Marvell seems to have stuck to their word for the Sheevaplug, so maybe they'll manage it this time, too. They certainly have the capacity to do so. Often you can find Sheevaplug based plugs on sale for $59-$69 - or $99, but with way more features, like Wifi/eSata.

Oh, here's one: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-32-guruplug-server-plus.aspx

Gigabit ethernet. It could act as a router. ;)

a $100 arm-based sheevaplug running linux is more than enough server and doesn't need much electricity.

There's actually been quite a few enthusiast-oriented ARM development boards as of late. In addition to the BeagleBoard and Gumstix...

Marvell OpenRD Client: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-openrdcdetails.aspx (much more desktop-oriented, albeit barely able to keep up with Beagle and Gumstix in integer, and lagging WAY behind in floating point (no FPU.))
Genesi EFIKA MX Open Client: http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/efika

Of course, there's always the Acorn Archimedes 305, which is a complete ARM-based desktop, and is very much aimed at consumers, not just enthusiasts. 8 MHz ARM2 (there were some ARM1s that made it into the public, but they were aimed at developers, not consumers,) 512 kiB RAM, one 800 kiB floppy drive, no hard drive. And for 1987, it was ridiculously fast - IIRC, the only thing that wasn't a *nix workstation that could come within striking distance was a 25 MHz 386, and those cost quite a few times more money for an equivalent spec (and, there was a version of the A440 (same thing with a hard drive interface and 4 MiB RAM) called the R140, which was actually a *nix workstation running a 4.3BSD variant.) ;)

I'm currently playing with a Sheeva Plug PC and loving it. Add whatever storage you want on the USB port. I "think" it only consumes 2W of power in real use.

Sheeva ARM CPU Core
        * 1.2 GHz operation
        * L1 Cache: 16K Instruction + 16K Data
        * L2 Cache: 256KB

Memory
        * DDR2 400MHz, 16-bit bus
        * 512MB DDR2: 1Gb x8, 4 devices
        * 512MB NAND FLASH: 4Gb x8, direct boot

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-sheevaplugdetails.aspx

It's 175 euro, a 100 euros more than the sheeva. And I really want to know if they have a good SATA implementation and if it really works good enough to be worth that much money.

The Sheevaplug is available in at least three different configurations that I've seen: US-standard Edison plugs for 110V, British BS1363 for 220V, and Euro plugs for 220V. The UK and Euro ones are very slightly more expensive ($102 instead of $99), but nowhere near the usual "Euro tax" that you guys sometimes get shafted with. I doubt it's worth hacking a US version, unless you already have one. All three versions are available here.

Sure it's yours for ~70 euros (plus taxes)

Don't forget the OpenRD

Same chip, but in a larger form factor to bring out the rest of the connectors: 7 USB, 2 Gb ethernet, VGA, audio, serial, & esata.

It's 250 instead of only 99, though.

Newer stuff to consider: qnap 419 (1.2 ghz arm), openRD client (1.2 ghz arm), sheevaplug (the walwart computer)

Newer stuff to consider: qnap 419 (1.2 ghz arm), openRD client (1.2 ghz arm), sheevaplug (the walwart computer)

I think you're after a plug computer ( http://www.marvell.com/featured/plugcomputing.jsp ) and just don't know it yet. Super low power, ARM-based system that can (easily) run debian + an apache stack, along with whatever else (well, within reason) you need. http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit-us.aspx has it for $99; you can get a European or UK version as well.

Some more links:
Sheeva Plug review/picture: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/marvell-sheevaplug-plug-computing-linux,7104.html
Where to buy the Sheeva Plug: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit-us.aspx
Installing Debian on the Sheeva Plug: http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/

I have been doing something like this for a few years now with an NSLU2 loaded with Debian. NFS shares between systems when I am at home. Rsync mirrors the 1TB disk on the server. I have recently been using Back-in-time to keep incremental snapshots. I will upgrade to the OpenRD-Client when we manage to get Debian sorted out fully on the SOC that it uses (which is the same as the SheevaPlug).

It isn't exactly the sort of solution the asker in TFA is seeking, but it could be applied similarly to meet his needs.

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit.aspx

It's horriblly backordered though.

Yeah, I know, it's got issues. Mine has stopped booting.

Actually I wish I'd got its big brother - http://globalscaletechnologies.com/t-openrdcdetails.aspx

So far, i've only seen units designed for use in the US, which means they have a physically incompatible plug (and thus require a bulky adapter) and require 110V whereas european sockets provide 240V...

According to the feature list, it handles 100-240VAC/50-60Hz. So you may need a plug adapter, but the voltage isn't an issue.

Something like this, doesn't really add any significant cost, or bulk. Shipping to the UK was an extra $35 last time I looked.

They got a slightly larger version, not plug form unfortunately, that brings out both GigE ports, an Esata connector, and 7 USB ports(although it looks like you could only use all of them with extension cables).

200 bucks, though. Kinda pushes it.

http://globalscaletechnologies.com/p-21-openrd-client.aspx

So far, i've only seen units designed for use in the US, which means they have a physically incompatible plug (and thus require a bulky adapter) and require 110V whereas european sockets provide 240V...

According to the feature list, it handles 100-240VAC/50-60Hz. So you may need a plug adapter, but the voltage isn't an issue.

As mentioned further up http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit.aspx

I got mine from them, I'm in the UK.

Though that's the original SheevaPlug dev kit, not the PogoPlug that TFA talks about. Same hardware, different software.

The actual link where to buy the wallwart was pretty deep linked from Marvells website. This is apparently the official place to buy these things: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-kit.aspx

Check out Globalscale's web site: http://globalscaletechnologies.com/c-2-globalscale-technologies-products.aspx Also, check out the openplug forum at: openplug.org/plugforum/index.php The power supply takes 110 - 220 volts, 50-60 Hz. Also, Ubuntu comes installed and there are several other distros available for the plug.